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I'm Mark Suddall. Welcome back to Power and Politics. Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Social Services Andrea Barton Reeves joins us now. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Well, now that the big beautiful bill is law, Connecticut, of course, is scrambling to fill the deep cuts to Medicaid. Connecticut extends $800 million lifeline to husky Medicaid clinics, but is it enough to counter Trump's cuts? Well, in many ways it's not. So let me just say that the announcement that we made yesterday that invested $80 million into our federally qualified health centers is historic. It's the largest investment we've made in 20 years and made in large measure because over 60% of our Medicaid patients. Do get their supports uh through behavior health, dental and medical through our FQHCs. We're very, very proud of the work that they do. They're an essential provider of benefits in our state, so we're very excited to have made that investment in them, but that's only one of many investments that will continue to need to be made. Looking at the Medicaid cuts and also looking at some of the SNAP benefit cuts that are coming, we know that uh the federal government has told us preliminarily that about 160,000 people in Connecticut will be affected in some way. Some percentage of that will lose their benefits. Our goal here in at the Department of Social Services is to inform as many people as we can. As to what these cuts mean, because there are some new requirements in order to be able to be eligible for Medicaid, which will start happening in 2027 and in SNAPP, which might happen sooner. So Medicaid now has new work requirements that were never imposed on Medicaid recipients before. And although there are a number of exceptions, you do either have to have a job that pays you the equivalent of 80 hours of work under the federal minimum wage, you have to be in school, you have to volunteer or do some other kind of community work, be enrolled in some other kind of community program for an equivalent of 80 hours within a month in order to either become eligible for Medicaid or remain qualified. That's new. A lot of people are going to have to navigate. Those new requirements and our goal is to try to help them to learn what they are and to be able to be compliant with them over time so that they can maintain their benefit. It's a different level, I would say, of accountability uh that I think the bill was intending to provide, but for many of our people it's also seen as an impediment to benefits because 73% of the people in the state of Connecticut are already working who are on Medicaid, so it, it will be a barrier to some. Now are there any other ways to get funding? There are really not other ways to get funding, because when we look at the combination of what will be lost in Medicaid and also the devastating impact of SNAP. And let me talk a little bit about that. For our SNAP benefits, we often, well, most states, every state actually shares 50% of their benefit costs with the federal government and the government would then fund 100% of the cost of the actual benefit. In Connecticut, we spend about $880 million in SNAP benefits. Now it sounds like a lot of money, but it really is the equivalent of about $275 a month, and that's the average, the high average of what a family can get to apply for SNAP. Uh, so now, in order to fill the gap from sharing that benefit cost, we're talking somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 million to anywhere from $50 to $75 million. So that's just one part of it. And then there's something called the Snap error rate, which is essentially a penalty we pay for mistakes that we make in administering SNAP benefits. And if we're within a certain percentage. And that's anything over 6%, there's a significant penalty that's associated with that that's new in the statute, and we believe that that cost could be as high as $150 million. So you're already looking at close to $500 million or I'm sorry, close to $300 million just looking at uh the possible cost increases in SNAPP alone. And then when you compare that and you add that to what will be happening on the Medicaid side. Because also keep in mind that there are administrative costs that will have to be encouraged to change all of our systems in order to comply with these new rules. The cost can really be astronomical and dramatic. It, it can very easily edge up close to close to a billion dollars over time. Now to break all this down, what specifically does the money for the Medicaid program cover for people here in Connecticut? Sure, so what people in Connecticut should know is that Medicaid and is husky and Husky is Medicaid. We've heard some of our recipients and our beneficiaries say, well, I don't have to worry about this because I'm on Husky. You need to know that that's just what the state of Connecticut calls it's Medicaid program and every state has a different name for its own Medicaid program. So the way that it breaks down is that Medicaid pays for dental, it pays for nursing homes, it pays for hospitals, it pays for long-term care and support. So it's not just health insurance, which is how most people think of it, but if your grandmother, your auntie, any elderly family member is in a nursing home right now, part of that and in many cases. All of their costs are covered under our Medicaid program, so it's an expansive program that covers a lot of benefits, and this will affect a lot of people. Our state has 1.2 million people who receive some form of Medicaid, as I said, including hospitals and nursing home care in this state. So that's more than a third of the people who live here. Now there is a stereotype here that the recipients are are lazy or not working or simply want to get free health coverage. That's not the case. Oh no, it's not the case. And as I mentioned before, 73% of the people, and that's not just that we came up with, that's from the Kaiser Family Foundation. They have confirmed that 73% of the people in the state of Connecticut who are on Medicaid are working. The issue is that when you're working and you're on Medicaid, you may have multiple jobs, none of which pay enough for you to be able to access care, or you may not be working enough hours at any specific job in order to be able to access their benefit. And even if you can, in many cases there are high deductible plans that are so expensive that they're really out of reach for the average worker. And when you combine that with the increase of cost of food and housing and just general care and childcare, it often the basics become out of reach for families, and then they need the social safety net that we provide through Medicaid and SNAP in in this state and throughout the country. Andrea, thank you so much for the time. Thank you. Appreciate it. Next, one local town loses its beloved for selectmen.

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Friends and colleagues are remembering Fairfield first selectman Bill Gerber. He died this week following complications from a brain tumor. Anyone who knew Bill knew he had like this huge contagious energy. He had this superpower of making everyone around him feel better. Bill Gerber shared his contagious energy with friends and family two years ago when he became Fairfield's first selectman. He was a friend to so many. He loved this community. He raised his family here, but after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, his health over 2 weeks quickly deteriorated. He died at Yale New Haven Hospital Tuesday. He was 61. It's just a devastating loss. It's impossible to imagine what his family is going through right now. Wednesday was a quiet day at Fairfield Town Hall. Town workers consoling each other about a man they loved who used to walk through these doors every day. He had so many hopes and dreams for our community father, coach, public servant. Really, um, it's a loss. And Gerber's family says arrangements for a public memorial service will be made at a future date. Sadly, this is another tragedy for this family who lost a son 10 years ago at the age of 9. Attorney General William Tong announcing his latest legal action against the Trump administration. The AG suing Washington over $53 million in frozen funds for Connecticut schools. The state joining a coalition of 25 states filing suit over nearly $7 billion in frozen funding nationwide. The state itself serves over 200 local education agencies, local districts, more than half a million students, more than 500,000 students. This is money, some of which has been allocated for 60 years now. Tong also says the funding freeze is throwing plans for the next semester into chaos as states now don't have money to fund their prior commitments. Well, that's all our time. I'm Mark Suddall. Thanks for watching.

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On this week's Power & Politics, News 12's Mark Sudol is joined by State Rep. Josh Elliott, who is also the first Democrat to have enter the race for governor in Connecticut. Elliot explains his reasons for running for governor, his campaign and issues that he wants to address among other topics.

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